Political Parties Raised More Through November than in Past Midterms, But the Results are Uneven

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The six major national political party committees raised more money combined during the first eleven months of 2013 ($343 million) than at a comparable midterm election point in 2009 ($326 million) or 2005 ($317 million). However, the committees showed uneven results.

The six committees are the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Republican National Committee (RNC), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Comparisons are based on the monthly electronic reports that the DNC, RNC, DCCC and NRCC filed December 20 with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), as well as well accounts of the two Senate committees’ paper reports. (The law exempts Senate committees from electronic filing. They file paper reports with the FEC, which then has to hand-enter the information before releasing it electronically.)

In 2013, the Democratic House and Senate committees each has raised more than its GOP counterpart (Table 1). However, the Senate committees are nearly at parity in their net cash positions once the DSCC’s debt is factored in (Table 2). In contrast, the RNC is ahead of the DNC – and even more so when debts are included.

Compared to past years: the DCCC raised more through November than ever before, while the DSCC fell just short of its 2007 high. The NRCC’s receipts are up from 2007-2011 but below 2003 or 2005. The NRSC is slightly down. The DNC and RNC are both down from 2009.

The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit research institute. Statements of the Campaign Finance Institute and its Task Forces do not necessarily reflect the views of CFI's Trustees or financial supporters.